Bio

I, Matt Sparks, am an entrepreneur, consultant, and writer. I grew up in rural Iowa, competed as a multi-sport college athlete, and currently enjoy mountain sports, travel, gardening, creative writing, and playing board games in my limited free time.

I worked in my family’s state park management and video arcade businesses as a kid. By age seven I could back up a boat trailer and beat anyone in Iowa on the game Defender… while playing solely with my feet. I soon began fixing and programming games and starting my own kid-sized businesses, and to this day I’m focused on building my various ventures, projects, and inventions. In school, I earned a BA in English Literature from Lehigh University and an MBA in Entrepreneurship from Acton School of Business. I worked in finance for much of my 20s and 30s, including the mortgage, real estate, and equipment leasing companies I founded, for which I raised more than $6M in investment capital. Over my career, I’ve also founded or cofounded businesses in construction, supplements, apparel, athletic equipment, software, and even a haunted house, rounding out my finance experience with roles in sales, marketing, and operations. In addition, I write a blog on a range of topics and a monthly column on VR and AI in e-Learning, and I’ve written books as well.

When I’m not rock climbing around Austin, Texas, I’m exploring how new technologies are changing how we think, learn, and move.